By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: The Milwaukee Brewers Chris Carter tags one to put the Brew Crew in front of the San Francisco Giants in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s game at Miller Park

Chris Carter broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning to point the way to the Milwaukee Brewers’ first win of the season Wednesday afternoon, 4-3, at Milwaukee’s Miller Park. In the process, he denied the Giants a sweep of the three-game series to start the season.

The Giants have nonetheless gotten off to a nice start to the year, winning two of these three games, which will undoubtedly give Giants fans a little juice for the home opener Thursday afternoon against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers.

Carter, a former A’s farmhand, was the one who did the most damage to the Giants on Wednesday, as he also hit a solo home run to break yet another tie.

This ruined the Giants debut of starter Jeff Samardzija, another former Athletic who went 5 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out six and left the game with the score tied at 3-3.

Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence each had a pair of hits for the Giants while Matt Duffy drove in a run. Although he is only batting .222 thus far, Duffy now has five RBI through the first three games, which is certainly an encouraging sign.

Unlike the Giants, however, the Dodgers swept their opening series of the year, against the San Diego Padres, and they punctuated that series with the resounding 7-0 win at Petco Park on Wednesday.

Jake Peavy will take the hill against Dodgers lefty Alex Wood, as both starters will be making their regular-season debuts.